Best Types of Topsoil

The best types of topsoil is any composted material, consisting of many important nutrients, or potting soil mixes. Mix up a great topsoil to help new growth with plant tips from a sustainable gardener in this free video on gardening. View Video Transcript

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Yolanda Vanveen

Video Transcript

Hi, this is Yolanda Vanveen, and in this segment we're going to talk about the best types of topsoil. So, before we talk about that let's talk about what is topsoil. So, when you buy a new house in a new development what happens is they scrape away all the topsoil which is all the composted material, the leaves, the grass, anything that's died back over the years which is very nutritious. That's great soil. And what happens is they clear all the topsoil off, and they build a nice beautiful new home on top of the clay, or the sand, or the rocks. And then, they turn around and they put some sod on top of the the soil, which is no soil at all, or they put a little garden area above whatever is there, and there's no topsoil at all so there's no nutrition, so your grass dies, and a lot of your plants will die because they have no nutrition. So, the best kind of topsoil is any composted material so it naturally occurs over the years. The leaves fall, the grass grows, it dies back, and it creates lush, lush soil. This is gorgeous topsoil right here. I'm just raking it in to reseed it, and it's lush, and it's thick, and it's black, and it falls apart. It's not sandy; it's not full of rocks. It's really organic natural material, so that is the best type of topsoil that you can have. If you move into a new house, or you have an area where you want to start a new garden the best type of topsoil is just compoy compost, anything that's organic, or even potting soil mixes. And be careful when you buy topsoil, because a lot of companies will tell you it's topsoil, but it really isn't. It's just dirt that's dug up from under the ground that's straight clay or straight sand that doesn't have a lot of organic material mixed in. So, make sure it's breaks apart and has a lot of organic material in it, and you'll find you'll have great topsoil.